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The English and Scottish Popular Ballads

Edited by Francis James Child.

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The Queen's Mary

MARY HAMILTON—K

[_]

Motherwell's MS., p. 96; from Jean Macqueen, Largs.

1

Queen Mary had four serving-maids,
As braw as braw could be,
But ane o them has fa'n wi bairn,
And for it she maun die.

2

But whan the babie it was born,
A troubled woman was she;
She rowed it up in a handkerchief,
And flang it in the sea.

3

Out then spoke a bonnie wee burd,
And it spak sharp and keen:
‘O what did ye do wi your wee babie,
Ye had in your arms yestreen?’

4

‘O I tyed it up in a napkin,
And flang it in the sea;
I bade it sink, I bade it soom,
'Twad get nae mair o me.’

5

Out and spak King Henrie,
And an angry man was he:
‘A' for the drowning o that wee babe
High hanged ye shall be.’
[OMITTED]

6

‘I'll no put on a goun o black,
Nor yet a goun o green,
But I'll put on a goun o gowd,
To glance in young men's een.

395

7

‘O gin ye meet my father or mother,
Ye may tell them frae me,
'Twas for the sake o a wee wee bairn
That I came here to die.

8

‘Yestreen four Maries made Queen Mary's bed,
This nicht there'll be but three,
A Mary Beaton, a Mary Seaton,
A Mary Carmichael, and me.

9

‘O what will my three brithers say,
When they come hame frae see,
When they see three locks o my yellow hair
Hinging under a gallows-tree!’